Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) December 15, 2025
We’ll be singing in the Grange on Saturday!
Come and join the chorus!
- Making and serving hot chocolate
- One person to purchase milk, sugar & cocoa–we’ll pay for the ingredients, of course!
- One person to bring up cups from downstairs, to mix up the hot chocolate, and to serve it when we take a break for refreshments.
- One person to clean up, and to wash the cups when we’re done.
- One person to clean up the cookie-serving, wash plates, etc.
- One person to provide some craft-making for kids
December meeting report: reviewing finances and rental rates, and more.
- We reviewed the study of the Grange’s finances conducted by the Executive Committee–many thanks to Patty Giavara for compiling the data. While we’re basically healthy, constantly rising costs are starting to threaten our cashflow over the last couple of years.
- It’s been at least 10 years since we raised rental rates, even slightly. The Executive Committee recommended a small increase, to compensate for the increased expenses for everything from heating fuel, to electricity, to snow-removal and repairs.
- The Executive Committee also discussed how important our long-term renters are for the mission of the Grange, and our desire to not over-burden the non-profit organizations that provide important services to, literally, thousands of Central Vermonters. The proposal is to discuss with these groups how much they can manage pay, to help us financially, with the long-term goal always being to keep the Grange Hall an affordable home for so many cultural, religious and community service activities, as well as the local families who use the Hall.
- The meeting voted to adopt the recommendations of the Executive Committee: for our Rental Agent to put in place slightly higher rates for new Hall renters, and to discuss with our valued, long-term renters how much they can contribute to keep us going.
- We also discussed the plans for purchasing some replacements for the metal folding chairs that we have used for decades. Since we received a very generous donation from North Branch Grange, in honor of Charles Martin, specifically for padded chairs, I have been looking at choices for this type of chair. We recruited volunteers for a committee to select chairs to buy samples of, so that we can get feedback on what combines comfort with affordable cost and best use of the storage space we have in the bins under the stage. Stay tuned for developments!
- We also thanked Patty Giavara for donating a quarter-page ad in The World, the weekly newspaper in Central Vermont, and for putting together a great list of Grange-sponsored events in December. You can see it here. Over Patty’s objections, we voted to reimburse her for the $60 auction bid she made in a fund-raising raffle, which “won” the ad she then donated to us!
No dogs with rabies! Just some dam fishy stories.
The “Community Program” following our brief Grange meeting on Dec. 6 was presented by Clark Amadon, President of the MadDog Chapter of Trout Unlimited. The name comes with a geography reminder: the Dog River and the Mad River are in adjoining valleys, and both flow north into the Winooski! Trout Unlimited is a national organization, founded in 1959, that recognizes that if people want to fish, they need to protect the streams where the fish live. This local chapter is particularly devoted to improving and maintaining the water quality of the watersheds for the two rivers, plus other streams in Northern Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom.
You can see the slide show which accompanied Clark’s presentation at this link on the Grange website. There are pictures of tree-planting, dam removals, riverbank protection, “Trout in the Classroom” activities in schools, fly-fishing camps, and much more. Check it out, and get involved if you can!
Their website also has information about this local chapter.
IAQ project update
The box shown on the left, an Iso-Aire RSH1000, is a ceiling-mounted air purifier–and we’re soon going to have one mounted on the ceiling in the Main Hall! This unit is just part of the project. It will filter the inside air through a HEPA 99.99% filter, and circulate the filtered air around the Hall. The filter removes virtually all particles down to .3 microns–below the typical size of COVID-19 virus droplets. This unit is a different version of the Iso-Aire RSF1000, which is located in the Lower Level. It will replace the 4–“Room Air Filter Boxes” we’ve had hanging in the Hall, and will filter as much air as 2 of those, while running at only half-speed, and much more quietly.
As I write this, the unit is being shipped, with an ETA of Thursday, Dec. 18. DOES ANYONE HAVE A 2-WHEEL OR 4-WHEEL DOLLY capable of holding 140 lbs., which we could borrow to transport the air-purifier from the delivery truck to the Hall?
We hope to get this unit hung within the next week. The electricians will install a “smart outlet” in the ceiling, into which the unit can plug, early in January.
Meanwhile, the ERV is to be installed next week. Peak Mechanical will be working in the attic and the Main Hall on Dec. 22-24, and we’ve been told that installation should be complete early in the week after Xmas! This will provide fresh, outside air, filtered and warmed (if necessary), to supplement the filtration of the indoor air by the Iso-Aire unit.
Read on, in the article below, to find out how we’ve been able to make this project (and many others) happen, and how you can help.
Matching grant funding from the Friends!
Long-time readers won’t be surprised to be reminded that the Grange can’t accomplish projects like this Indoor Air Quality one without the backing of the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall. We’re able to make this one, the overall cost of which is about $50,000, happen because the FCCGH applied for a grant to cover half the cost. It actually took a few attempts to get the grant awarded. The Friends can’t do it alone either–it’s thanks to the generosity of many supporters in the Grange community (members, Hall users, and more) that the Friends have also been able to raise the matching funds needed pay the other half of the project cost.
Right now, the FCCGH’s Fall Appeal is underway. I’m pleased to report that the Treasurer thinks we are “on track” to make our fundraising goal for this campaign. You can help us get there! All the information on how to donate, including a PayPal link, is on the Donate page on the Grange’s website. Just click that bright yellow link, and you’ll find the Paypal link, the postal address, and information on the many projects that have been accomplished by the Friends, the Grange, and our many supporters who have donated in the past. There’s also a link to view the Fall Appeal letter we sent out. Please join the other generous donors–any amount helps, and lets us know how important the Grange and the Hall are to you.
If you’ve borrowed 2 of our tables, PLEASE RETURN THEM
We’ve realized that we are missing 2 of the 30″ x 60″ folding tables that we store in the “Table Closet” in the Main Hall. It’s easy to tell they’re ours: each is labeled “Property of Capital City Grange” on the bottom.
We had to replace 2 “borrowed” tables that never came back in 2024, also–it cost us over $150. We cannot afford to have items like this “walk away”!